I have been reloading for 50 years and the first thing I did was 12 ga shells. Had a neighbor who hunted doves a lot and he would load all his shells before season. He taught me to load when I was 13 on an old Herters press. Winchester used to load "Upland" brand shells and that was all he would use for his reloads because of the plastic base. He shot a 1100 Remington and he would let me load a couple of boxes for my old Parker 12 ga Double. That was a lifetime ago seems like...
This video is one of your best. It's getting to hang out while you step through a new challenge, think out loud about the why of your choices (showing the load manuals & instructions), share the process - mistakes & all, then take us on your first squirrel hunt in 15 years. Afterwards we get to see the cleaning & prep process, be at 'Johnny Child's' elbow while you cook & dang near taste the dish when done. Shoot & editing is superb. On screen you're relaxed & authentic while production is like you graduated from USC film school. Seamless flow & storytelling - you even break the timeline to background us or reveal where you're going but it never feels like an interruption. Hell, 90%+ of entertainment TV is less well done. Thx for taking us along and making it feel like we're hanging out with a buddy. A video is never this good without a sh*t ton of work. Which you make invisible. 💪🏼☀️👏🏼
....from 8 yrs. old in 72 till I was 17, NEVER missed opening squirrel with my Dad, scoped 22's only & head or neck shots.....made for delicious clean squirrel stew with thick gravy !!!.....must have shot 200-250 squirrels in those years & we ate everyone of them. Thanks fer sharing....those few minutes of hunting video brought back many years of wonderful memories.
That was a lot of fun to watch. I started loading shotgun shells when I was 12 yo (40+ years ago). I got a Lee Load-All press and went to town. I made every mistake possible and still didn’t manage to blow my face off, even when I took steel bearings from a bicycle wheel and put them in a shot shell... A lot of thoughts from this video, but I’ll try to summarize briefly. First, Mec definitely worth the price, 600 jr is adequate for my needs. Second, for about 20 years it was not worth loading shotshells because we could buy bird shot for the price of components, but seems that has turned around slightly with the ammo shortages. Next, you are very slow and deliberate for a shotshell reloader. I think it is preferable to learn shotshell prior to rifle/handgun cartridges. Even so I picked up a couple ideas from watching you. I look forward to every one of your videos.
I think this was my favorite video so far! I like seeing the whole process with the squirrels too. As a Canadian prairie hunter, nobody I know eats squirrels here and ever since watching Meat Eater I've been curious what they'd taste like. I live about 45 min from the Boreal forest, might have to head North, shoot a bunch and find out! I've been trying to get into reloading for years, but for one reason or another watched your channel for my fix instead. I was thinking about pulling the trigger on a Lee Load-All as my first foray into reloading and lo and behold my reloading mentor released a video about it 😂. I think you've all but convinced me!
If you are going to hunt boreal forest squirrels for eating, you are going to be disappointed. Those squirrels down south eat hickory nuts, acorns, walnuts, beechnuts and other tree nuts. Boreal dwellers eat mostly spruce nuts. You'll see piles of disintegrated spruce cones under spruce trees. Those are squirrel cuttings. If you don't mind your squill meat tasting like a Christmas trees, go for it.
@@stevecochran9078 I live in Florida near Ocala Forest and our squirrels taste just the same as the ones we eat in northern hunt camps from Vermont to Kansas and Texas we like to include squirrel into our hunts as it’s plain fun and great camp meat 👍
@@edwardfirebear5783 I grew up in deepest-darkest Appalachia and agree with your assessment. However, boreal forests or taiga forests are in the northern latitudes beginning with a '5' across Canaduh and Alaska and extending north to the edge of the arctic tundra. They are mostly covered with various flavors of spruce trees with some birch, aspen, willow and cottonwood thrown in. The red squirrels that inhabit those areas mostly eat spruce nuts (seeds), and have a turpentine aftertaste.
Agreed. I was not allowed to shoot squirrels growing up because my mom thought they were cute. I know how tasty they are now and my son can shoot all the squirrels he wants ;)
I have been waiting for this video for years. I have my dad's old mec 600jr bolted to my bench but had no idea what to do with it and unfortunately I can't ask him questions. Every time I try find load data I just get more confused. Thank you for this. I also have a single shot 410 that was my first gun and now you have me really excited to play with it again
Hi Kyle, Use it! Buy the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook. Watch RU-vid videos about using the MEC 600Jr. (It's easy). Call MEC and ask for help if you get stuck. Like Johnny says, figuring out which components to use is the most confusing part. Go out there and wipe the dust off of it. Wipe down the blue steel parts with break free or any oil. Pull the handle. Good Luck! R, Steve
I learned to reload 12ga in the '70s with a Lee Load-All. Couldn't get a good crimp, surprised it seemed to work well for you. Then bought a MEC 700 (like the 600 with improvements) and it is all steel and makes perfect loads. Well worth it and the 600Jr is really all you need, especially for multi gauges. The MEC have bottles for powder and shot and that assy tilts down and you unscrew the bottles, works great with no spill! I bought a micro adjustable bar so didn't need to buy powder and shot bushings and easy to fine tune. Also, not hard to find used MEC machines to save some money.
I don't think you could make a more complete Shotgun video. That was excellent. Stayed up all night to watch it. Have to work early tomorrow. Worth every second. Especially when he spilled all over. Classic jrb moment.
Never plan on loading for shotgun but this was one of my favorite JRB videos. The perfect mix of your reloading and the other stuff that would normally go on JRB Outdoors. Good luck in the Metroid tourney too.
I've never even fired a shotgun and I found this video very entertaining, informative, and well produced. I have had squirrel before and you've almost got me interested in hunting for them. I would watch more shotgun videos.
Squirrel season is the best season and a JRB video with reloading for squirrel is like finding a nest in a maple tree. Absolutely a great video man keep up the good work.
Great video! Loved every minute of it. I'm making squirrel hunting a mandatory practice 3 or more times every year. I had been away too long and I forgot how much I loved shooting and eating squirrels.
As a long time subscriber and a metallic reloader and a Beagler who hunts rabbits/hare this was a great video to see due to the current selection of field/hunting loads, I’ve been considering trying to get into shotshell reloading just to have shells for our hunting group to hunt with for this and upcoming seasons. This video is almost exactly the mission I would be trying to accomplish. It was good to have the insight of someone who thinks like a metallic reloader making a video like this! Recipe looked great too!!
If you size ,de prime and then re prime your shells first you will make better time. I do them in batches of 25. Also. Push the wad up onto the pusher and just hold it with 1 finger to guide the wad. Use a piece of painters tape on the base in front of the pre crimp and mark with a pen as a reference for where you want to have the fold in the case to line up with. When your close the shell will / should spin a little into proper position. The long shot pwder works really well for me in 1 1/4 oz pheasant loads. Keep up the good work. !
Had a lee load all for like 2 years that I haven't used yet, been wanting to reload shells for hunting/ home defense buckshot. Glad your making shotgun reload videos since alot of other creators go no where in depth as you do.
What a trip this afternoon, I was listening to the podcast and realized I've been thinking about this for ages and here JRB pops up with exactly what I am interested in. Thanks JRB, another outstanding episode.
Squirrel hunting has always been the most fun for me: low pressure, lots of opportunities, and easy to manage the carcasses. Shears make cleaning way easier.
Dude! I'm only a few minutes in but already you are dealing with the same confusing issues. I did! In exactly the same way with same books, components and questions! Thanks for addressing these man. Sincerely! I felt so alone! The discrepency between books for understanding compontent changes in pressure and hull identification problems just like you adresssd made me feel stupid. Glad to know they were legitimate questions. By far this is my favorite video youve ever done. Thanks again Johnny!
Mr. Johnny, a little tip concerning sharp knives... sharpen your blades however you usually do them and then MAKE an 8 inch MDF wheel for your bench grinder.. I use metal polishing compound from Harbor Freight on the wheel... I used 2 pcs of half in MDF to make a full 1 in wide wheel.. its easy and well worth the effort... and its a lot of fun... Happy reloading!!!
I usually don't have that long to sit and watch, but I did and liked it. I only have a .410 as far as shotguns go because I live in the desert...quail and dove are the only edible birds out here. I'd like to see your .410 reloading vid. And, as far as the vooking goes, that was great. I learned a lot, thanks Johnny!
I went through the exact same thing starting out reloading shot shells. The main thing you need to worry about is using the correct wad for your hull. Meaning using a wad for tapered hulls vs straight hull. Cheddite hulls are straight which I like better. The next is the payload weight it doesn't matter the pellet size you use just the weight. So if you found a load for 71/2 shot you can substitute anything else as long as it weighs the same and fits to give a good crimp. It's all very archaic. My favorite powders for heavy field loads are blue dot and long shot and 800x. Bubba round trees channel has some excellent shot shell loading information. Also look at the Ballistic products website. Good luck going down the rabbit hole.
I belong to a Gun Club that has 2 shotgun ranges and have access to all of the hulls I could possibly want. Like you say, the spent hulls are gathered up and put into barrels and then the hulls are just thrown away. I initially had intended to reload 12 gauge and acquired (traded for) a Lee Load-All and a couple of MEC 600 JR's. I also went through a couple of barrels of spent hulls and pulled the AA brass base hulls. FWIW, It's not hard to separate the brass from the steel, just get you a magnet and anything that doesn't stick is brass.
Just want to say thank you for taking the time to put this video together. I love long videos like these and I recently start loading 12 guage. It's really cool to be learning alongside you! I'm cookin' up a steel shot load to take duck hunting! Hopefully things are as successful as your experience.
Love the shotgun reloading and squirrel hunting videos. I've always thought it was too expensive to reload shotgun shells compared to straight buying them but I want to learn and cooking squirrel looks awesome.
Great video Johnny! Shotshells can be very complicated. I have been loading shotshells for 40 years. Two general rules of thumb: 1 - Use shells that are one piece (Old WWAA and current STS, Nitro, and Game Load hulls) if you want to load the shells SEVERAL TIMES. 2 - Put a wad back into the hull that was designed to fit it. i.e. Remington wads or copies in Remington hulls, Winchester wads and copies in old Winchester AA hulls, Federal in Federal. The taper that is mentioned is an internal taper. This is what the wad choice is about. The base of the wad needs to seal off the powder charge. In cold weather, you can always tell who put tapered hull wads in straight wall cases when they show up at the trap range. You can hear it as a squad of five shooters shoot... Bang!, Bang!, Bang!, FUURRRTT...., Bang!
Loved every minute of this video! I’ve never reloaded shotshell despite competing at skeet for a long time. Was excited to hear you announce this video was coming and I really wish to try loading hulls now. The hunting and cooking part were such a cool tie in. Can’t wait to see the journey continue into .410.
Hey dude. really enjoyed this, you went through every step, from the load crafting to going out back to collecting the squirrels and then preparing the meat, then cooking the meal. this was a good video-Dave
This was like the weirdest mix of Johnny's Reloading Bench, JRB Outdoors and Good Eats. It was fantastic! Not only do I want to get a Load All II and load up some shotgun shells (I have several 16 gauge's I'd like to shoot more often), I want to go shoot some squirrels. Thankfully, I can sit on the deck and hit them with the 22, though ours are a lot smaller than those nice greys you have up north of me here in TN. Great episode, man!
Lee-Loader is a great choice for the first timer, or old hand looking to load small volume. LEE has simple easy to follow instruction, Consult the Richard Lee second edition reloading manual to clarify many of the questions you've expounded upon. Most other loading tools tend to make there instructions overly complex. For well under $100 for one loader in your gauge and there you go. MEC's are fine for someone into High Volume shooting Skeet/Trap and start at the low end of $150 and well north of that.
Mom bought me a Load All II in 1986 or so when I was fifteen. I still have it and it still works, although I almost never reload shotshells any more. I admit I had to laugh a little at your expense when the screws gave way. I KNEW it was coming lol. This is a great video and will no doubt help many future reloaders. Thanks man!
Hi Johnny, What a great video. (No annoying music; thank you.) I saw a guy in another video of the Lee Loadmaster II, drill a hole in the front of each reservoir. He used plastic plugs to keep the powder and shot inside each hopper. When he was finished, he pulled each plug, one at a time, while holding a container under the holes to catch the contents. That saved him from having to do the invert-the-loader-to-empty-it dance. That looked clever to me. Honestly, I couldn't believe it when you wrote on the powder hopper. I like post-it notes to identify powders. Also, a piece of white 2" water proof medical tape stuck to the hopper works (write on it, then peel it off later). Yes, they are janky, flimsy, but they work ...as you just proved. R, Steve
Three things I always add to any kind of meat.... Salt, pepper and garlic.. go easy, you can always add more latter. By all means, do more shot shell videos,.. great job at the bench, in the field AND in the kitchen!!!!
As a rifle and pistol reloader love seeing the addition of shotgun to the arsenal. Also love all the cooking and cleaning stuff! So much to learn and I’m eager to try this myself one day
Having loaded thousands of shells on the Load-All, this video brought back too many memories! You will get quicker and smoother with practice. If you’re loading only a few boxes of shells a year, this will serve you well.
A quick follow up comment. Regarding your 410. There is a big movement where hunters are using the 410 for waterfowl and turkey and killing turkey cleanly with TSS loads out to 45 yards. I believe a 3" load would be around 11/16oz. I like the mix of both metallic and shotgun loading vids. BTW, you can rent a reamer and tap for that 410 and convert it to accept choke tubes. Probably don't want to do that to your topper being a gift and all but hey, it's an option.
I have always used .22 LRs for squirrel hunting . I have used both rifles and target pistols successfully over the years. I always cut the pelt straight across the back and get my fingers wedged in under it. You then pull opposite ways and skin the squirrel like you are undressing it. When you get to the paws you simply use a meat cleaver or some kind of wire cutters or tin snips to cut them off so that you can continue getting the pelt/skin off working them out. We always used flour and some salt and pepper to pan fry them. Save the grease and the scrap morsels to add flour and milk to make gravy for your mashed potatoes. You make sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy the exact same way. If the gravy gets a little too thick add a little milk and stir while you continue to heat. If it gets a little too runny you simply add more flour while you stir and continue to cook.
I don’t reload shells but spent a lot of time researching it as I want to get into it. From what I’ve heard (doesn’t mean it’s true) is that the swirl on your final crimp is a result of going “too heavy” on the pre-crimp so to say. Great video and very detailed and explanatory for those of us that don’t reload. Love the channel, looking forward to more videos in this series!
Great video. All the way down to the bacon. Damn near midnight hear and I want to fry myself up some. My first step into reloading was with the same Lee setup. 16 years old and hunting geese. Closest place that sold any ammo was a one-hour drive and only working in the evenings for minimum wage, I didn't have a whole lot of extra money. Saved up, bought the reloader and all of the components and never looked back. Now, I followed the directions and recommended loads for a while....then started wondering if I could hit those birds that were flying higher up if I were to bump up the charge weights! Luckily, I never had a single issue. Still using the same machine almost 30 years later, but now loading stiff charges for coyote hunting!
25 years ago I avidly shot trap and skeet, and reloaded thousands of shells, 700x and green remington hulls, kept on reloading the same hulls until they fell apart. Never had any issues. Seemed to always work and be forgiving. Ps also used the lyman book. Great job and videos. Thanks.
I appreciate your ability to attempt something you have no experience with. It really shows your maturity in the reloading arts. I also enjoyed this multifaceted video where you went all the way from reloading to hunting to table fare. Keep up the great work my friend!
I've enjoyed all of your content, going back the past couple/few years, but I absolutely loved this content. I've been curious about shotgun reloading but I'm not there yet, but I couldn't turn away from this. Squirrel hunting is a favorite of mine and the culinary portion of this was an awesome bonus. Keep pushing forward with this.
Shannon, as much as I loathe this process and I am not much of a shotgunner, I enjoyed the video and really appreciate you stepping out of your comfort zone to provide this entertainment for us. I felt your pain through the whole video. The only thing this video does is remind me how much I don't care for shotgun, and that I can't find any unique for my 44mag😅. Thanks again and God bless brother!
Well done video, your calm demeanor and clear speaking had me tuned in very closely. I appreciate your showing us the reloader despite some issues it may have in build quality. However you showed how this machine does do the job if one is careful with it. It was fun to learn how the shot-shell reloading process works. Your wonderful backyard sounded like an aural animal paradise! Thank you for taking us on a wonderfully informative and pleasurable adventure.
Really cool video Johnny. I liked the journey aspect of it. Felt like I was on it with you. Now I've got to go make squirrel tacos and bacon. Keep up the great content. I can't imagine the effort that went into making this video.
Glad to see you actually got the setup for 12 gauge! Once you get past the headache of load and component selection, it's a really fun and satisfying process.
Loading shotshells for me is totally worth it and is as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Often times no press required... just simple hand tools. Some will disagree, but once you find a start load in the manuals you can deviate from the recipe to customize your load and still be safe. Also.. ANY hulls you get your hands on can be reloaded more than once. I actually prefer the straight walled hulls over the tapered ones. The cb1138 wad I have found, is the most versatile wad out there. For your .410, Use 444 Marlin brass... You'll never wear them out! Thanks for the video...
Your on the right track so far with loading shotshells. I also found the AA hulls are not as cracked up as they say. The odd crimps you saw with it sticking up and concaving inward is normal as well as the little hole in the middle. My dad would apply some clear nail polish or wax to keep water out. STS hulls are your best bet. I normally load Unique to max pressure because load data for Alliant is VERY CONSERVATIVE.Getting into the MEC Loaders, the 600 Jr. doesn't have a resizer built in while the Sizemaster does. The MEC Loaders also solve some issues the LEE has like having to align the crimp for initial starter crimp. The MEC auto-aligns the hulls. Sadly, I don't have much experience with TSS shot, I just stick to the gold standard of lead. Hope this helps.
Bacon & squirrels looked excellent ! Dad brought home a load all when I was 14 years old, in 1981. My brothers & I reloaded thousands of rounds with it, I still have it & it still works perfectly. Yes it feels cheap, but it works very reliably.
I am really happy to see this video. Thank you for showing and highlighting all the problems I have with reloading shotshells as well. I live in Germany and to get all the components is already difficult. But sorting out which components is even harder. I own the Lyman shotshells reloading book as well. The first time I looked in it I was very much confused on all the different shells and wads. But your video gives me confidence to be able to handle all the differences to reloading rifle and pistol ammunition.
Take it from a former 10ga turkey hunter, TSS did change everything, it changed my gun from a 10ga, to a 12, then a 20, and the last two I killed were with a .410, and a swear, that .410 with .850oz of 9.5tss smokes a gobbler at 40+yards better than my 10ga used to with lead. And you get 19 shells to a pound of TSS so the cost is only semi ridiculous
Excellent video and new subscriber. The first 25 mins of this video were my exact frustrations when I first started with shotshell reloading to a T. Great job!
Great video. I really enjoyed all of it and prefer your longer videos. Your videos got me into reloading years ago, and I'm going to start shotgun reloading now, too, so do some more. Thanks
Awesome video Johnny! Love seeing you work through new things. Those load all presses do feel janky, but my family has loaded hundreds of thousands of trap loads through the same old load all press bought used in the early 90s!
This was such an enjoyable video. I've never had squirrel before but you've inspired me to probably get a small game license and try heading out a couple days before deer season and get a should of them to try.
Clean up on aisle 9 This is perfect timing Johnny. I recently bought a 20ga load-all 2, 300 pre-primed Fiocchi hulls, claybuster waa wads and 25lbs of #4 This video has helped give me the confidence to build some shells for spring turkey season. Illegal to hunt squirrels here in B.C.
the load alls are awesome. i started loading shotgun shells on the load all and never saw any reason to upgrade from then on. relatively unbreakable, reliable, easy to use and economical. good choice, i have been using mine for about 12 years
After handloading rifle cartridges for years I thought loading shotshells would be an easy transition. I had no idea there were so many different designs in a 12 gauge hull!
One of your best videos yet! Thank you and would love to see more shotgun videos. Hard to find steel dove loves in eastern Kentucky so I might have to start reloading my own. 👍
I still dig the long form content. I never really considered shot shell reloading. Then again, all I have is grandpas old single shot 20ga. Great video though.
1. I put a single layer of masking-tape on the charge bar and dusted it with graphite powder, after cutting the holes for the powder and shot. 2. I glued a coin inside the crimping die which fitted inside the top of the case loosely that rolled the crimp over much better. 3. Haven't checked the vid far enough to see if you figured out the crimp starter yet. Reloading shotgun is all about the feel Cool vid
